We all get, on average, a little further than our parents when it comes to formal education. Specifically, we all get a little further than our mothers, although it helps if our fathers are equal to our mothers. Wherever you start from, you are unlikely to do worse than your mum, and you are highly likely to do better, although not by much, regardless of the teachers you have or school you attend. School is the icing on the cake, and that cake is a big factor in your academic attainment.So why is that? Cast your mind back. Go a long way back, to your first memories. Think about what you remember wearing, what you remember doing, who you did it with, where you did it. How tall were you? How long was your hair? How did it feel to be young? Think about what you knew then.And now think about what you know now. Think about how much you have learned. What you have seen, experienced, felt, believed, lived… And think where and when you got that knowledge. If your mum isn’t looming large, she should be, because in the majority of cases, she brought you up. It is all down to her. It wasn’t school.Teachers didn’t really make much difference, neither did your school – yes, effective teachers and schools may have made your learning in school more enjoyable, but they were simply icing on the cake. Not sure about this? Think about your school days. Start with the early years, in primary school. Think about the things which stand out, whether they be buildings, or feelings or people. Think back to a time before you could read, and the things people read to you if you remember them. Think about the things which you did read when you could read for yourself.Try – and this will be difficult for most people – to imagine what it was like before you knew how the number system worked. Do you remember learning how to add, or subtract or multiply? Do you remember a time before you could divide numbers, or name shapes, or understand angles?If you are like most people, your memories of this time will be fairly jumbled up, a mish-mash of actual memories and memories constructed through family myths and half-recollections. It was simply childhood – a time of immense learning, development and growth. Some teachers you had were kind, helpful and, if you were lucky, inspirational. They sprinkled some sugar onto your learning. Some were probably awful; ask your parents which of your teachers were awful, and they’ll tell you if you can’t remember… But your mum brought you up, not them. And that’s what matters.Secondary school is a little different, inasmuch as children become much more active participants in their own academic development as they mature into adolescents, but the core theme is the same. A supportive mother will support her children, and she will find a place in a school which will enable her children to learn what she can’t teach. Children have to take more responsibility for actually trying to understand what their teachers are trying to teach them if they are to progress academically, and their supportive mothers will help them. Luckily, the majority of children do take responsibility, and most do well in school when compared to both their parents.But the thing which makes a difference is your mother, not your teachers and not your schools. Your mother provides a huge cake of learning, on top of which effective teachers and well-run schools will add some icing.Here’s some evidence for my thesis:“Research finds that mothers are the strongest influence on children's educational achievements, and the key to a family's chances of social mobility. http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/news/20658/mothers-lead-their-girls/“Much of the apparent relationship between a mother's post-16 educational participation and measures of her children's cognitive ability and her parenting skills is driven by the selection bias – it is largely other factors, such as her aspirations, motivation and prior achievement, which determine her child's attainment and affect her decision to stay on in education.”http://www.learningbenefits.net/Publications/ResRepIntros/ResRep19intro.htm

You're right that school is just icing, but it's only so because of the way it is organised. It could be so much more.

When a child arrives at school their capacity for language is judged. If they have 'educated' parents and speak in an 'educated' way they are judged to be good and a positive cycle of cooperation and praise begins. If they have 'uneducated' parents and speak in an 'uneducated' way they are judged to be less good and the cycle is one of uncooperation and condemnation. Schools therefore elevate the children of the middle class over those of the poor, but only because they define education as academic (linguistic) ability.

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Icing on the Cake

4/3/2014 11:44:47 pm

I can't agree with you, Ed, that it's somehow schools actively discriminating against kids. That's not my experience. Beyond anecdote, a great bit of research is written up in Starting School: Young Children Learning Cultures by Liz Brooker. http://www.ioe.ac.uk/staff/eype/ecpe_10.html
Schools are the icing on the cake, and whilst they can be criticised, I don't believe thst they judge children on their language skills in they way you suggest? What's your experience? Any evidence you'd like to share?

I was only able to find a review of Booker's work, not the work itself, but it seems to confirm that discrimination, albeit unintentional, is taking place. She says it's cultural, rather than linguistic, capital that determines whether a child becomes a 'learning pupil', ie has positive first experiences of school that lead to a path of high achievement. I think she's probably right about the primary importance of culture in the early years stage, though I maintain that as children get older, facility with the English language will be the bedrock of their success (or not). I also think she's right in saying that this discrimination is not conscious on the part of teachers, but isn't the mark of a professional critical appraisal of one's own work? The national curriculum and its schemes of assessment will ultimately tell some children they are worthy of membership of the elite, and others that they are useless failures. Granted the elite children will mostly come from rich homes, and the failures from poor ones, but does that mean all school has done is ice those cakes?
I think a better cake analogy is that students bring ingredients to school and school bakes a cake with them, never a meringue, flapjack, nor a fruit salad. Regardless of what the ingredients are, it bakes a cake.

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Icing on the Cake

5/3/2014 11:10:52 am

Fair enough, Ed. I understand your argument. Thanks for adding to the debate.

Think about how much you have learned. What you have seen, experienced, felt, believed, lived… And think where and when you got that knowledge. If your mum isn’t looming large, she should be, because in the majority of cases, she brought you up. It is all down to her. It wasn’t school.

I own my mom very much. I an who I am only because of she. She was a lone mother and I can only imagine how hard it was for she to rise me up. But she gave me wonderful education and now I can earn good money. i try to help her a lot. Because now it' my turn.

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Me?
I work in primary education and have done for ten years. I also have children
in primary school. I love teaching, but I think that school is a thin layer of icing on top of a very big cake, and that the misunderstanding of test scores is killing the love of teaching and learning.